Future
by ArcaFeretory
Summary: "When she looked up she just about jumped out of her skin upon seeing Jemma leaning against the doorframe." - Surprisingly not an AU. Set post... everything I guess.


**You don't even understand how tempted I was to write something in space for this. Like... wow. But no. I resisted. Day seven of Skimmons Week. This was fun guys.**

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><p><strong>Future<strong>

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><p>Paperwork.<p>

That one little word somehow managed to define her life and torture her soul at the same time. How utterly onerous. And oh good, there goes her vocabulary.

Skye ran a tired hand through her hair. She resisted counting how many papers she had yet to grade simply because if she did she'd want to cry. Never in her wildest dreams had she considered the possibility that peace would be so mind-numbingly boring. Not once had she sat down and thought that perhaps remaining a field agent would be a better idea.

Okay, so it wasn't a good idea. At all. But at least it would never make her want to curl up into a ball and drown out the rest of the world with angsty music.

She twisted her watch around on her wrist to check the time and promptly sighed again. Still half an hour before the end of the work day and still a gazillion more papers to grade. It was no damn wonder May gave up being an office worker. This was painful stuff.

Sucking in a deep, fortifying breath, she snatched the next paper off the stack, determined to get through as many as possible before the day closed. God only knows she wasn't planning on taking any home with her. Nope.

Somehow she managed to power through another dozen or so more before the buzzer rang out across the campus. Her pen paused over the current paper, hesitating momentarily as she considered leaving it half marked and coming back to it in the morning. But then the idea of having to do this first thing the next day… Yeah no.

Sounds echoed down the corridors as she persisted in finishing just this last test. Skye did her best to ignore them. Breathing a sigh of immense relief, Skye shoved the paper on top of her 'completed' pile and dropped her pen back on her desk.

When she looked up she just about jumped out of her skin upon seeing Jemma leaning against the doorframe. "God, you're such a creeper," she gasped. Jemma just grinned at her, pushing away from the door and bouncing onto the edge of her desk.

"When you weren't at my door I was a little concerned," Jemma told her. "You're always down at the labs five minutes before they let everyone go." She ran a finger along the stack of papers. "Look at you doing homework," she teased.

Skye rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. This is reminding me of why I dropped out of high school."

"You love it here."

She sighed dramatically, but couldn't deny it so she just smiled. "I sure don't miss the time zone problems we had on the Bus."

"Personally," Jemma mused, fiddling with her stapler. "I quite like the _not getting shot at_ bit."

"That's a good one too," Skye conceded, standing to grab her coat and bag. "Having a permanent address is awesome." She looped her arm through Jemma's on the way out of her office. "But you're right, not wondering if I'm going to lose someone is the best part."

As they headed for the parking lot, students trickled out around them, slowly draining the Mandala Academy of Sciences of life. Some of them hollered across the quad as they left. Some gave bright waves at teachers they knew. Jemma got a few farewells from kids in sweaters and glasses and Skye couldn't help but smile at the realisation that she was teaching a whole new generation of geeks just like her.

"Do you ever think it's odd?" Jemma wondered aloud as they dropped their stuff into the car.

"What's that?"

"That we went from being part of SHIELD, an organisation that everyone knew about on some level, to working for a sector of the government that has to hide behind universities," Jemma explained. "I mean… Aegis doesn't exist."

Skye shrugged. "Coulson was right. It doesn't matter that SHIELD was so beneficial at one point, it will only ever be remembered as the corrupt institution that hosted HYDRA."

"I know that…" Jemma sighed. "I don't know. Sometimes I forget that I work for the government and that Mandala funnels students to the Aegis program."

"I think that's the point, Jem," Skye laughed, pulling the car out onto the street. "We don't exist so HYDRA has nothing to latch onto this time."

Jemma gave her a flat look. "If SHIELD can become Aegis and go incognito, then I'm sure HYDRA can do the same."

"Sure, sure. I'll be on the lookout for Umbrella Corp."

"Don't mock me," Jemma laughed, slapping her arm. "It could happen."

"But this time you won't have to sew me up," Skye breathed wistfully.

"Which sounds perfect to me. Sewing you up was never something I enjoyed."

"Don't lie to me," she teased. "I know for a fact that getting me shirtless to stitch me up was the highlight of your day."

"You're incorrigible."

Skye put on her best pout. "You mean you didn't enjoy it at _all_? I'm wounded, Jems."

"Please," Jemma scoffed. "Patching you up is awful. I much prefer you shirtless when I _don't_ have to suture you."

"Good thing you haven't had to do that in years then, isn't it?" Skye prodded with a cheeky smile.

Jemma exhaled. "Sure is."

The car existed under a comfortable silence for all of five minutes. Then, while they waited for a traffic light, Skye blurted, "Hey."

"Yes?"

"What time is Fitz Junior's thing tonight?"

"Why do you call him that?"

"Because he is a tinier, more bespectacled version of his dad," Skye told her as if she were an idiot. Which she's _not_, but anyone could guess why Skye called him that. Seriously. Then she realised she'd said 'bespectacled' and cringed inwardly. Living with someone as British as Jemma would obviously do that to her.

Jemma huffed. "_Alex's_ recital is at seven. Why?"

"Just wondering."

"You very rarely 'just wonder' things, Skye," she noted. "We've been married a while now, I know you pretty well by this point."

She hummed but otherwise maintained silence.

"If you're trying to come up with an excuse not to go you can stop right now," Jemma said tartly.

Honestly, Skye was mildly offended she'd think that. "Excuse me? Why would I want to miss Alex playing some ridiculously complicated classical music piece and blowing away a crowd of people? Pretty sure I'd love to see the kid kick arse on stage. He's wiser than we were at his age."

"What makes you say that?"

"In no way does Alex look like ending up working for a super-secret organisation that might get him killed every other day," Skye reminded her flatly as she parked the car in the drive of their house. "I'd say that makes him so much smarter than we were."

Jemma made an indignant squawking sound. "Pardon me? He's _eight_."

Skye just laughed. "And already playing Mozart. He's a genius."

"It's Henri Tomasi," Jemma corrected her. "Mozart played piano. And do you ever say nice things like that about your own child?"

"All the time. She's a tinier, more bespectacled version of you," Skye chuckled, pressing a kiss to her frowning wife's cheek. "Of course I tell her she's a genius. She knows more than I do."

Jemma just made another harrumphing noise and hauled her bag out of the boot. "She's only seven, Skye. She doesn't know more than you."

"She will," Skye assured her as they went inside. "She won't pick the same profession as me because that's a dumb mistake I will make sure to steer her away from. She won't end up getting shot at, and you won't have to _suture_ her. She'll probably become an amazing surgeon somewhere. Or a physicist, or a rocket scientist. But she won't end up a hacker working for an invisible branch of the government. And that," Skye concluded as she held the door open for Jemma. "Makes her smarter than me."

"I work for an invisible branch of the government," Jemma pointed out.

"Well, I'll be damned. That makes our seven year old daughter smarter than you too." Skye dropped her bag on the sofa. "You okay, Jems?"

Jemma nodded her head into the crook of Skye's shoulder as she was wrapped up. "I think I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop, if I'm being honest. Peace time doesn't last."

Skye tilted her head to kiss her lips this time. "Then we'd best make the most of it while it lasts, huh?" she mumbled.

"Good plan."


End file.
